Thursday, December 20, 2012

Medical Records


Do you remember when computers became part and parcel of our lives?

One of the justifications for using computers was this: It will do away with our need for paper and we will save many precious trees.

Somehow that failed to happen. We discovered that with computers we could easily print out thousands of pieces of paper in a few minutes. And that's what we did and do. For example, most doctors' offices put our records into the computer and then print out a paper copy as a "backup." So computers have not eliminated but increased our need for, and use of, paper.

Poor trees! Poor us!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lots of 'healthy' reading ;-)

EG CameraGirl said...

How true.

I love looking back at predictions made many years ago to see how things really turned out. :)

Danielle said...

This is such a great shot and it is a great documentation of what we consider 'progress' ;)...so much for the paperless society. I get most of my bills/notifications etc...by email to help with this...but many times they still send me the 'hard copy' as you say...for back-up...just in case I forget to read my email and hence forget to pay me bill.

I love the contrast in colors and off whites in this photo...it is such a great shot.

Olivier said...

je sais pas comment cela se passe aux USA, mais en France dans beaucoup de societe (et surtout depuis qu'il n'y a plus de probleme d'humidite et de poids) utilise du papier recyclé (ce qui est le cas dans notre societe)

Judy said...

I wonder if other offices do the same, like banks for instance. Do they have a paper back up so that in case of a power outage they might still know if someone has money in their account. I also wonder if the electronic readers has yet to make a dent in the number of books that are printed.

cieldequimper said...

Lol... I tend to keep paper copies...

Karl said...

You are right, Lowell, so much (unneeded) paper...

Great and well composed photo, it's a document for the future.

RedPat said...

I have to admit that I have hard copies of anything important that is on my computer!

Kay said...

And every time I go into a doctors office it seems like they ask the same questions all over again rather than going back to take a look at the previous visit (as in a week or two ago).

I stumbled into this blog today. . .I'm NOT complaining, but didn't you say you were going to take it down?

Jack said...

The paper industry is wise like fox, Lowell.

I actually did consider the absence of suitable windows for my lichterbogen, but you can't have everything.

Kate said...

Sometimes human beings are neither bright nor creative.

Lea said...

I agree... how much more for those huge libraries and offices. There is a soft copy and a hard copy, having either of them as a back up.

Linda said...

Very true. I would love to work in a hospital with the physical files as pictured here.

Unknown said...

Poor trees, indeed. And poor us! Have you heard Antarctica is melting almost twice as fast as they thought
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/23/west-antarctica-warming-climate-change_n_2356287.html
It's all connected...

"Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." — Henri Cartier-Bresson